Racing game with recessed blade driven pins



1967 E. F. JOHANSSON RACING GAME WITH RECESSED BLADE DRIVEN PINS Filed June 22, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet l Aug. 9, 1967 E. F. JOHANSSON 3,338,577

RACING GAME WITH RECESSED BLADE DRIVEN PINS Filed June 22, 1964 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent RACING GAME WITH RECESSED BLADE DRIVEN PINS Erland Frans Johansson, Angelholmsgatan 12, Malmo S, Sweden Filed June 22, 1964, Ser. No. 376,647 Claims priority, application Sweden, June 24, 1963,

12 Claims. (Cl. 273-86) This invention relates to an improved racing game imitating horse-racing, for example trotting, car racing etc. The game is in the form of a board with a number of parallel slots and for example a carriage equipped with a figure such as a horse and adapted to be propelled along each of said slots by the intermediary of a number of blades disposed beneath the board on a vertical rotatable shaft.

The invention aims at attaining principally the same initial position as for example in a trotting match where a fast horse has a longer distance to run than a slow one but nevertheless has a fair chance of winning the race. This is realized according to the invention in that each figure is provided with a pin of a length varying from figure to figure and depending through the slot, and each blade presents recesses of varying depth and position.

These and further features of the invention will appear from the following detailed descriptiomin which reference is made to the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention. In the drawmgs:

3 FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the race-course of the game;

FIG. 2 is a cross section on line IIII in FIG. 1;

. FIG. 3 is a section on line IIIIII in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a view of a piece.

The race-course is constituted by a board 1 with a number of parallel slots 2 of oval extension. The parts of the race-course separated by the slots are kept together by overlying members 3 carried by uprights 4 which are connected, e.g. riveted or screwed, to the said parts of the race-course. The board 1 is attached, for example screwed, to a frame 5. Extending between two of the opposite sides of the frame is a beam 6 which is attached by screwing and serves to stabilize the frame and has a central opening 7 having a widened lower portion and serving to accommodate an upwardly directed bolt 8 with a head 9. The bolt 8 extends upwardly through a central opening in the board 1 and has a nut 10 engaging the upper side of the board 1. Passed onto the bolt 8 is a socket 36 which is applied against the underside of the board l and the upper side of the beam 6, a bush 11 being rotatably mounted on said socket and engaging with its upper end surface the underside of the board 1 and with its opposite end surface engaging a wedge assembly to be described more in detail in the following.

The bolt 8 constitutes a shaft for a disk 13 mounted on the bush 11 and applied against a shoulder 12 on said bush. The disk 13 has a number of blades 14 which are integral therewith and can extend radially from the centre of the disk, as will appear from FIG. 1 or can be oblique in relation to the radial direction. Recesses 15 of different depth and position are provided in the blades 14.

As already mentioned, the disk 13 is to be rotated about the bolt 8 and for this purpose on its outer circumference has a gear rim 16, meshing with a pinion 17 which is rotated by means of a crank 20 via an ordinary bevel gear 18 and a drive shaft 19. Instead of the crank 20 the drive shaft 19 may if desired be connected with an electric motor on the frame over a switch located Patented Aug. 29, 1967 ice v on the outer side of the frame. The pinion 17 and the bevel gear 18 are attached to the frame by means of a U-shaped holder 21. The pinion 17 is of considerable width so that the gear rim can be moved in the axial direction and still remain in mesh with the pinion.

The disk 13 and the bush 11 are displaceable on the bolt 8 longitudinally thereof by means of the fork-shaped wedge 22, as will appear from FIGS. 1 and 3. For shifting the wedge 22 to raise or lower the bush 11 with the disk 13, the wedge 22 is connected to one end of an operating rod 23 which extends through an opening in the frame 5 and has its other end provided with a knob 24. The thickest portion of the wedge is normally kept beneath the bush 11 by means of a tension spring 25 interposed between the rod 23 and the frame 5. By pushing the rod 23 inwardly against the action of the spring 25 the wedge 22 is moved inwardly, as is indicated by dash and dot lines in FIG. 3, whereby the bush 11 and consequently the disk 13 are lowered.

A piece constituted according to FIG. 4 by a carriage formed by a horse, a sulky and a driver, is to be moved along each of the slots 2 by means of the blades 14. For this purpose the piece has a footplate 26 which at one short side has an upstanding pin 27 on the upper end of which the part of the piece consisting of the driver and the sulky is attachable. The sulky has a wheel assembly 36 formed by two wheels and an axle carrying them. Two slightly diverging portions 28, 29 disposed one after the other as seen in the longitudinal direction of the plate 26 project upwardly at the front end of the footplate 26, and are adapted to have their upper ends clamped together in such a way by means of a slotted washer 30 as to extend in substantial parallelism. The front portion 29 has a projection 31 provided with an upwardly directed recess in which is disposed the axle of a wheel assembly 32. The plate 26 presents midway between the portions 28, 2-9 a hole and the portions 28, 29 define between them an opening, through which hole and which opening a pin 33 is insertable. The pin 33 has a shoulder 34 which by engaging the upper end surfaces of the portions 28, 29 restricts the insertion of the pin in said hole and said opening. The pin 33 has its upper end fixedly connected to a horse 35.

Each of the pieces is disposed in a slot with the footplate 26, the lower portion of the pin 27, the portions 28, 29 and the wheel assembly 32 beneath the board 1 and with the upper portion of the pin 27 and the driver and sulky above the board 1. The piece is retained in the slot in that the portion of the piece consisting of the driver and sulky is secured to the pin 27, and the washer 30 is clamped about the upper ends of the portions 28, 29. The pin 33 connected with the horse is finally placed in said opening so that the pin projects beneath the plate 26 as will appear from FIG. 4 and may be actuated by the blade 14.

The disk 13 with the blades 14, the frame 5, the racecourse 1 and the pieces can all be made from plastic material. However, other materials also can be employed, if this is deemed suitable, such as wood for the frame 5, and metal for the race-course 1 and the pieces.

The racing game functions as follows: when the shaft 19 is rotated by means of the crank 20 or by an electric motor the disk 13 and the blades 14 are turned, the pieces disposed in the slots being moved around the course by the blades 14 engaging the depending pins 33 of the pieces. When the pin 33 is actuated by a blade the wheels of the wheel assembly 32 are engaged with the underside of board 1 while the wheels of the wheel assembly 36' are engage with the upper side of said board 1, the washer 30, which when the carriage is at rest keeps the latter in position in the slot, is slightly raised from the upper side of the board 1. Because of the oval extension of the slots the pins will slide along the blade over the greater part of a revolution. As soon as a pin 33 registers with a recess of a blade, that is of sufficient depth relative to the length of the pin, the blade in question will travel past the pin so that the piece remains unactuated until some following blade carries it along. As already mentioned, the recesses 15 have different depths and likewise the lengths of the pins 33 vary, from which folows that the longer the pin the faster the horse.

The game may be played as follows: First the different horses and tracks are allotted whereupon the horses are arranged according to a predetermined handicap system. Then the disk 13 is rotated and the pieces are moved over the field one or more turns. During each turn the blades are lowered one or more times, which results in a new variation of the propulsion of the pieces. The winner of course is the horse which is the first to go past a given winning post.

As distinguished from most games which are based upon the racing principle the game according to the present invention can be played also by one person. The maximum number of players of course depends upon the number of tracks or slots 2. The possibility of rearranging the pieces on the different tracks and the possibility of lowering the blades imply that the chance that the piece will pass the winning post in the same sequence two times in a row is but infinitesimal, which is quite unique to a game of this kind and of great importance to the popularity of the game.

It goes without saying that the design of both the racecourse and the tracks as well as the pieces may be modified. Thus the tracks need not be of oval configuration but may present a plurality of curves. The pieces may be in the form of motor cars. In other words, the invention is not restricted to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawings but permits of being modified in several ways.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Racing game comprising a board, parallel slots of oval extension in said board, a frame supporting said board, a supporting member extending between two opposite sides of said frame in spaced relation to the underside of the board and beneath the centre of said board, a shaft extending through the centre of said board and through said supporting member, pieces movable along the slots and having pins of different length depending through the slots, bush means rotatably and axially displaceable on said shaft, a disk on said bush means having integral ribs directed to said board and extending in the manner of spokes from the centre of the disk, said ribs having recesses of different depth and position, a gear rim on the outer circumference of said disk, in mesh with said gear rim, means for rotating the pinion, and means for displacing the bush means with the disk on said shaft in the axial direction thereof while maintaining the meshing engagement between the gear rim and pinion, the elements being so related that selected ones of said pins are drivingly engaged at a given instant by selected ones of said ribs dependent upon the length of a selected pin, the depth and position of a selected recess, the radial distance of a selected piece relative to the centre of the disk, and the axial displacement of the bush means.

2. Racing game as claimed in claim 1, wherein said means for rotating the pinion is a crank.

3. Racing game comprising a board, a frame supporting said board, parallel slots of oval extension in said board, pieces movable along said slots, each of said pieces consisting of a portion fixed in said slot and a portion easily removable from the first mentioned portion and provided with a pin which upon insertion of the last mentioned portion in the first mentioned portion will extend through the slot and project at the underside of said boa-rd, said pins being of varying lengths, a supporting member attached to the frame and spaced from the underside of said board and extending beneath the centre of said board, a shaft extending through the centre of said board and through said supporting member, bush means rotatably and axially movable on said shaft, a disk on said bush means having integral ribs directed to said board and extending in the manner of spokes from the centre of the disk, said ribs having recesses of different depth and position, a gear rim on the outer circumference of said disk, a pinion in mesh with said gear rim, means for rotating said pinion, and means for moving the bush means with the disk on said shaft in the axial direction thereof while maintaining the meshing engagement between the gear rim and the pinion, the elements being so related that selected ones of said pins are drivingly engaged at a given instant by selected ones of said ribs dependent upon the length of a selected pin, the depth and position of a selected recess, the radial distance of a selected piece relative to the centre of the disk, and the axial displacement of the bush means.

4. Racing game comprising a board, a frame supporting said board, parallel slots of oval extension in said board, pieces movable along said slots, each of said pieces consisting of a portion fixed in said slot and a portion easily removable from the first mentioned portion and provided with a pin which upon insertion of the last mentioned portion in the first mentioned portion will extend through the slot and project at the underside of said board, said pins being of varying lengths, a supporting member attached to the frame and spaced from the underside of said board and extending beneath the centre of said board, a shaft extending through the centre of said board and through said supporting member, bush means rotatably and axially movable on said shaft, a disk on said bush means having integral ribs directed to said board and extending in the manner of spokes from the centre of the disk, said ribs having recesses of different depth and position, a gear rim on the outer circumference of said disk, a pinion in mesh with said gear rim, means for rotating said pinion, wedge means between the end of said bush means remote from said board and said supporting member for providing displacement of said bush means on said shaft, and means for displacing said wedge means perpendicular to said shaft, the elements being so related that selected ones of said pins are drivingly engaged at a given instant by selected ones of said ribs dependent upon the length of a selected pin, the depth and position of a selected recess, the radial distance of a selected piece relative to the centre of the disk, and the axial displacement of the bush means.

5. Racing game as claimed in claim 4, wherein said means for displacing said wedge means perpendicularly to said shaft comprises a push rod connected to said wedge means, mounted in said frame and operable from the exterior thereof.

6. Racing game comprising a board, a frame supporting said board, parallel slots of oval extension in said board, pieces movable along the slots, each of said pieces consisting of a portion fixed in the slots, and a portion readily removable from the first mentioned portion and having a pin which upon insertion of the last mentioned portion in the first mentioned portion extends through the slot and projects onto the underside of said board, said pins being of varying lengths, a supporting member attached to the frame and spaced from the underside of said board and extending beneath the centre of said board, a shaft extending through the centre of said board and through said supporting member, bush means rotatably and axially movable on said shaft, a disk on said bush means having integral ribs directed to said board and extending in the manner of spokes from the centre of said board, said ribs having recesses of varying depth and position, a gear rim on the outer circumference of the disk, a pinion in mesh with said gear rim, means for rotating said pinion, wedge means between the. end surface of the bush means remote from said board and said supporting member for providing displacement of the bush means with said disk longitudinally of said shaft, said pinion being of such a thickness that the gear rim is kept engaged with it in all positions of said disk on said shaft, spring means adapted normally to hold the thickest portion of the Wedge means in position between the underside of the bush means and said supporting member, and a rod operable from the exterior of said frame for displacing the wedge means against the action of the spring means so that the narrowest portion of the wedge means is caused to lie between the underside of said bush means and said supporting member for lowering said bush means with said disk, the elements being so related that selected ones of said pins are drivingly engaged at a given instant by selected ones of said ribs dependent upon the length of a selected pin, the depth and position of a selected recess, the radial distance of a selected piece relative to the centre of the disk, and the axial displacement of the bush means.

7. Racing game comprising a board, a base spaced from said board, a plurality of parallel slots in said board, pieces movable along said slots, pins of different lengths depending through said slots on said pieces, blades beneath said board for moving said pieces by actuating said pins, said blades having recesses of varying depth and position, means for rotating said blades in a plane substantially parallel With said board, said slots being so located with reference to the path of rotation of said blades that a relative movement will take place between said pins and said blades, the elements being so related that selected ones of said pins are drivingly engaged at a given instant by selected ones of said blades dependent upon the length of a selected pin and the depth and position of a selected recess.

8. Racing game as claimed in claim 7, wherein the slots in the board are of oval extension.

9. Racing game as claimed in claim 7, wherein means are provided for temporarily lowering said blades out of engagement with said pins and rotating said blades in lowered position.

10. Racing game comprising a board, a base spaced from said board, a plurality of parallel slots in said board, pieces movable along said slots, pins of different lengths depending through said slots on said pieces, blades beneath said board for moving said pieces by actuating said pins, said blades having recesses of varying depth and position, means for rotating said blades in a plane substantially parallel with said board, said slots being so located with reference to the path of rotation of said blades that a relative movement will take place between said pins and said blades, a shaft perpendicular to said board centrally mountedbeneat-h said board, bush means rotatable on said shaft, said blades projecting from said bush means in substantial parallelism with said board, means for rotating said blades about said shaft, and means for displacing the bush means on said shaft longitudinally thereof, the elements being so related that selected ones of said pins are drivingly engaged at a given instant by selected ones of said blades dependent upon the length of a selected pin and the depth and position of a selected recess.

11. "Racing game comprising a board, a frame supporting said board, parallel slots in said board, pieces movable along the slots and provided with pins of different lengths depending through the slots, a shaft perpendicular to said board and centrally mounted beneath and in relation to said board, bush means rotatably and axially movable on said shaft, a disk disposed on said bush means and having ribs thereon extending approximately in the manner of spokes, being parallel to and facing said board, said ribs having recesses of different depth and position, said slots being so located with reference to the path of rotation of said ribs that a relative movement will take place between said pins and said ribs, means for rotating said disk about said shaft, and means for displacing the bush means and the disk longitudinally of said shaft to displace the position of said pins with relation to the elements being so related that selected ones of said pins are drivingly engaged at a given instant by selected ones of said ribs dependent upon the length of a selected pin, the depth and position of a selected recess, the radial distance of a selected piece relative to the centre of said disc and the axial displacement of said bush means.

12. Racing game comprising a board, parallel slots of oval extension in said board, a frame supporting said board, a supporting member exending between two opposite sides of said frame in spaced relation to the underside of a board and beneath the centre of said board, a shaft extending through the centre of said board and through said supporting member, pieces movable along the slots and having pins of different length depending through the slots, bush means rotatably and axially displaceable on said shaft, a disk on said bush means having integral rib directed to said board and extending in the manner of spokes from the centre of the disk, said ribs having recesses of different depth and position, said slots being so located with reference to the path of rotation of said ribs that a relative movement will take place between said pins and said ribs, means for rotating the disk about the shaft, and means for displacing the bush means on the shaft longitudinally thereof, the elements being so related that selected ones of said pins are drivingly engaged at a given instant by selected ones of said ribs dependent upon the length of a selected pin, the depth and position of a selected recess, the radial distance of a selected piece relative to the centre of said disk and the axial displacement of said bush means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,581,756 4/ 1926 Mills 273- 86 2,108,726 2/1938 Rocuskie 27386 X 2,205,459 6/ 1940 Bardega. 2,424,354 7/ 1947 Ford. 2,643,885 6/ 1953 Ford 273-86 FOREIGN PATENTS 13,063 1915 Great Britain.

ANTON O'. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner, 

7. RACING GAME COMPRISING A BOARD, A BASE SPACED FROM SAID BOARD, A PLURALITY OF PARALLEL SLOTS IN SAID BOARD, PIECES MOVABLE ALONG SAID SLOTS, PINS OF DIFFERENT LENGTHS DEPENDING THROUGH SAID SLOTS ON SAID PIECES, BLADES BENEATH SAID BOARD FOR MOVING SAID PIECES BY ACTUATING SAID PINS, SAID BLADES HAVING RECESSES OF VARYING DEPTH AND POSITION, MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID BLADES IN A PLANE SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL WITH SAID BOARD, SAID SLOTS BEING SO LOCATED WITH REFERENCE TO THE PATH OF ROTATION OF SAID BLADES THAT A RELATIVE MOVEMENT WILL TAKE PLACE BETWEEN SAID PINS AND SAID BLADES, THE ELEMENTS BEING SO RELATED THAT SELECTED ONES OF SAID PINS ARE DRIVINGLY ENGAGED AT A GIVEN INSTANT BY SELECTED ONES OF SAID BLADES DEPENDENT UPON THE LENGTH OF A SELECTED PIN AND THE DEPTH AND POSITION OF A SELECTED RECESS. 